Your Vision is Too Close to Home

"Anytime in my life when I have managed to go from a vision to a reality, the vision has not been a plan; it has been a practice. In other words, what matters is not having a vision, but rather making a habit of returning to and revising the vision." – James Clear

On the other side of the phone, there was silence.  Finally, Alia* said, “It doesn’t meet my vision.”

I replied, “It can be one of the first steps towards your vision.”

Alia was launching a clothing brand. She’d done her homework—extensive research, connected with suppliers and crafted this eloquent vision that made her voice resonate with anticipation. But when she came to me for help with her business plan and funding, she had her heart set on launching with 12 different lines.

I recommended she focus on two or three key offerings and test the waters first. “But that will set me back six months,” she snapped back.

 “If you launch too quickly, you may find yourself a year behind because you’ve burned through too much cash,” I warned. “In any business, the real story isn’t what we see. It’s in the grit—the sacrifices, the sweat, and the late nights nobody sees.”

Many first-time entrepreneurs often fall head-over-heels in love with their vision, so much so that they can become blind to reality. They miss the obvious steps. They craft elaborate ideas without ever getting input from their actual users. It doesn’t help that the media keeps pushing this narrative of “entrepreneurial success,” and how exciting and simple it all seems. This fuels our need for instant results.

And here’s where our inner donkey leads us astray. It plays with our unrealistic expectations. You start thinking, “If I just get that loan, launch that ad campaign, perfect my website... everything will just fall into place.” However, a vision is an end goal, not a starting point.

The True Test of a Vision

This is especially true if your vision is socially driven. Sure, your vision might be to solve a global issue. You want to create impact and get recognition for it. Nothing wrong with that; we all crave a bit of praise. The trouble starts when you try to get there in a hurry.  You can absolutely have a bold, inspiring vision. But—and here’s the kicker—the bigger it is, the longer it’ll take. Think five years at minimum. Not five months.

The true test of a vision are the obstacles you overcome to achieve it.  

In a landmark study done by psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, she asked one group of women who had enrolled in a weight-loss program how likely they felt they were to reach their goals. She found that those women who were confident that they would succeed lost 26 pounds more than self-doubters. However, she asked a second group, who were confident they would succeed, to also imagine all the obstacles along the way and how they would tackle them. The results for this second group were remarkable – they lost an additional 24 pounds than the first group. This study was repeated with students looking for work, singles looking for a relationship, seniors recovering from hip replacement surgery. The results were the same: in the groups where they did more than just “visualize their vision” and listed what obstacles they would have along the way – the results were dramatically better than those who just visualized achieving the goal.     

The Real Danger

We’ve all fallen into the trap of bringing our vision too close to home. You start thinking, " I can see the end result. I can knock this out in a month." Whether it’s finally finishing that novel, starting a side hustle, or building your dream home—you think the universe is going to just... deliver. But like Oettingen’s research shows, if all you do is bask in your future glory, you’re less likely to get there.

This fantasy can lead to some pretty ugly consequences—rushing into bad financial decisions, quitting your job too early, or worse, running your business into the ground before it even takes off.

Your Vision is Sacred

Here’s the thing—visions are absolutely worth having, as long as you treat them with the respect they deserve. They’re aspirational, and like any grand aspiration, they need room to develop. They answer your “why” but not your “how.” A vision is much more than a statement you place on your website for customers to read.  It will require re-visiting it and seeing how it plays out in the world.   

A vision gets you closer to your essence—your desires, values, and natural gifts. It’s not strictly found in any one quiz or personality test but something you become more aware of over time, through experience and reflection. Understanding this will make you a better entrepreneur.

Alia’s New Direction

Alia eventually decided to put some foundation under her vision: focus on her Promise. That’s a story I’ll share in a future blog, but in her own words, “I took the weight off my shoulders. I was putting so much pressure on myself to make it all happen at once. Instead, I’m focusing on the things that will make a difference in the long run. I realize I don’t need quick answers—I need to let it evolve.”

Keeping your vision at a distance gives it room to grow. Dream big, but start small. Think of it like riding a donkey, not a Maserati!

Next time, we’ll dive into Entrepreneurial Archetypes and how understanding yours can help you tap into your essence.

*The name and specific business has been altered to maintain client confidentiality.